Morse, Vogelsong, Perez power San Francisco Giants over Cincinnati Reds

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 in game 2 of the three game series.

Jun 4, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong (32) pitches during the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

Ryan Vogelsong pitched 6.1 innings of 2 run ball. Vogelsong was rocky through the first three innings. In the bottom of the first inning, Vogelsong gave up a single to Billy Hamilton (the thorn in the side of Giants pitchers right now). An errant throw from Vogelsong sent Hamilton to second, he got Fraizer to strike out. Up comes Brandon Phillips who was hit by a pitch, that put runners on first and second with one out. Vogelsong was able to struck out Jay Bruce and Pablo Sandoval robbed Devin Mesoraco of a bases clearing double. 

The bottom of the second inning saw Vogelsong immediately in the stretch after allowing a lead off walk to Ryan Ludwick. He was able to strike out the next three batters, Brayan Pena, Zack Cozart, and Tony Cingrani. 

Bottom of the third inning started like the bottom of the first inning. Billy Hamilton hit a ball that didn’t go past the pitcher, Buster Posey‘s errant throw sent Hamilton to second. Posey was able to atone for the previous error catching Hamilton trying to steal third base. This was good because Todd Frazier sent a ball down the left field line that hit the foul post for a solo home run. Vogelsong was a little shaky after the home run giving up a double to Brandon Phillips and a double to Jay Bruce. Vogelsong hammered down again striking out the next two batters.

Bottom of the fourth inning, Vogelsong retired the first two batters and allowed a hit to the pitcher and then to Billy Hamilton. He was able to retire Todd Fraizer to get out of the inning. Vogelsong retired the next 8 batters to end with a line of 6.1 IP, 2 ER, BB, 9 SO. The nine punch outs were a regular season career high. He also struck out nine in Game 6 of the NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Giants offense was non existent through the first 5.2 innings. Cincinnati Reds pitcher Tony Cingrani  threw everything and the Giants were not making any noise. However in the sixth inning with two outs Michael Morse got hold of a ball and sent it into the left field seats for a two-out solo home run. It was his 12 home run of the year. After Morse, Brandon Hicks hit a single up the middle. Next up was Juan Perez who was imitating Morse with his first home run of the year sent to the left seats. This gave the Giants a 3-2 lead that would end up being the final score. All three runs of the game for the Giants were scored with two outs.

Madison Bumgarner will be on the hill tomorrow for the rubber match. Game starts at 10:00am PDT.

1st Star of the Game: Ryan Vogelsong
2nd Star of the Game: Juan Perez
3rd Star of the Game: Michael Morse